Test For Depression: Preliminary Investigation for Depressive Symptoms

By: Rudy Susanto

Test for depression through a series of thoughtfully chalked out questions gauge the severity of impact depressive symptoms have on you and the extent to which they interfere with your ability to behave sanely on physical and psychological parameters. A number of screening tests devised by cognitive psychologists’ aid in the process of unearthing the reach of depressive disorder in the psyche of affected persons.

The first approach to test for depression is to resort to a screening questionnaire which deals with issues like:

• How often does one get disquieted over trivial issues
• Frequency of experiencing a dry mouth
• Complete lack of positive thought process or getting overwhelmed by negative thought process
• Experiencing trouble in breathing even without physically exerting oneself
• Being gripped by panic without any substantial reason
• Slipping into spells of crying or tears keep welling for even slight emotional disturbances
• Overreacting to circumstances, either hostile or favorable
• Legs feel shaky as if they would give way under building body weight
• Difficulty in relaxing with misery and sadness being the regular cup of tea
• Being continuously in a state of restlessness with apparent difficulty in keeping still.
• Unable to enjoy things that used to stir up good feelings once.
• Feeling of anxiety accompanies one whenever he is out of home.
• Finding oneself in circumstances that raise the anxiety level beyond control and relief descends only when the situations come to an end
• Feeling of absolute despondency envelops one with the feeling that one has nothing to look forward to in life.
• Extreme impatience overwhelm one when delay in any form sets in his way
• Feeling tired for no apparent cause and seeming to faint.
• Waking up in the wee hours of the morning with a flurry of disturbing thoughts playing around in the mind.
• Finding it difficult to retire to restful sleep without medication or once the sleep breaks.
• Quick to take offense at slightest turn of things
• Feeling diffident and fretting consistently over one’s worth
• Feeling that life is not worthy enough to live and suicidal tendencies intermittently taking over
• Finding it hard to swallow and calm down after an upsetting episode
• Feeling peevish all the while
• Apprehension of not able to see through any less worthy but unfamiliar assignment
• Not feeling zealous or passionate about anything that would have otherwise caused a lot of enthusiasm.
•  Finding it hard to brook interruptions in task at hand
• Consistently absorbed in fanciful thoughts of situations in which one may panic and appear clumsy due to inherent foolery
• Experiencing quivering motion of the hands
• Finding it tough to work up the motivation required to be successful in an initiative
• Fit of sadness lasting for a prolonged period than considered normal

The responses to the above test for depression are noted through a rating card, the score of which defines the severity of depression based on a definitive score sheet worked out by psychologists. Medical attention should be sought by persons who are accurately diagnosed through the test for depression.

Once established, the psychologist may then venture into other tests to identify the exact causes that allowed depression to set in. These tests include inquiring about the medical history of the person, conducting a physical checkup, understanding the effects of the medication on mental health to which the patient currently subscribes to, knowing about the depressive tendencies in other family members etc.

The aforementioned test for depression proves to be paramount in detecting the subtle and complicated conditions that conduced to depression and will provide valuable insight in determining the course of effective treatment.